£400 is significantly better. Supporting a British company is always a good thing, plus it's not a bloody Surly!
Agree with you about the tyres. That''ll come, Maxxis and Vee Rubber were showing some new 3.0 tyres recently at the Taiwan bike show. More of a concern is the cost of a new 29+ wheelset, but worst case scenario is I run it with standard 29 wheels, and/or my fat front which I am still loving very much.
I think the yellow colour scheme very much divides opinion. I hated it to begin with, but I've warmed to it slightly though I'd still prefer the swift blue.